


Kudoninja

by Hibiki_no_Ouja



Series: Kuroninja 2020 [4]
Category: Super Sentai Series, 快盗戦隊ルパンレンジャー VS 警察戦隊パトレンジャー | Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patoranger
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Major Original Character(s), Original Character-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:07:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23309635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hibiki_no_Ouja/pseuds/Hibiki_no_Ouja
Summary: In the alternate universe of Earth 7, the Lupinrangers don't exist, but the Patorangers do. Umika Hayami is the apprentice of a masked vigilante known only as "The Kuroninja." Together, the two of them fight against an evil organization known as "The Diamond," which plans to turn the country into a paradise for criminals everywhere, by assembling the Lupin Collection.
Relationships: Hayami Umika & Original Character(s)
Series: Kuroninja 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1608568
Kudos: 1





	Kudoninja

**Author's Note:**

> In the universe of Earth 7 there are two people who go by the name "Kuroninja". One of them is Umika, and the other is the true Kuroninja of Earth 7. To avoid confusion, after Kuroninja is introduced, Umika will be referred to as "Umika" even when she transforms into her Kuroninja form.

In a nightclub somewhere, a group of criminals in leather jackets were meeting with a group of masked men from another gang. Nobody really noticed because they were too busy dancing or drinking, except for a girl wearing a black and yellow dress.

The leader of the masked criminals presented the leather jacket criminals with high-tech weapons. As soon as a girl saw the weapons, she moved the wristwatch she was wearing closer to her mouth. The watch was actually a hidden communication device.

"You were right," the girl said. "The Diamond is here."

"Now where's the money?" the leader of the masked men said to the gang leader.

"Right here," the gang leader said. He showed the masked men a large bag of money. The masked men inspected the bag of money. This is when things were starting to get intense.

"You're planning on double-crossing us, aren't you?" the masked leader said. "I can see right through your plan."

"O-of course not, I swear!" the gang leader said.

"Good..." the masked leader said. "But just in case..." He then revealed a large spray cannon on his hand. A strong, odorous gas came out of the cannon and knocked out every criminal in a leather jacket. The gang leader was scared as he saw his fellow gang members collapse in front of him, but then he heard a cough. The masked leader and the masked men heard the cough too, and saw the girl in the black dress spying on them.

"You saw it, didn't you?" the masked leader said. "I won't let you get away with this!" He then took his mask and his suit off, revealing his true form: a humanoid monster themed after a corpse flower.

"You're working for _the Diamond,_ aren't you?" the girl said.

"What makes you think you can stop me?" the monster said. "I am _Corpse Flower Mask_ , one of the Diamond's most powerful members! This place will soon be filled with criminals, and no one can stop us!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," the girl said. She reached her hand out for something. A black shuriken with orange and yellow accents flew into her hands. She threw the shuriken in the air, and it began to fly around the girl, forming an armour around her. Now, the girl was wearing a black ninja suit with orange and yellow accents.

"Just who do you think you are?" Corpse Flower Mask said.

"You can call me "Kuroninja," the girl said.

Kuroninja ran at the other masked soldiers, who had brought knives. The masked men were ready to stab Kuroninja, but she was faster. She took out one of them with a sliding kick, and then dodged a swipe from another masked guy. Kuroninja then got out an orange baton and used it to counter the attacks of the masked men. Corpse Flower Mask noticed that all of the masked men had been defeated. He decided to make his retreat with the money and weapons. As for Kuroninja, she knew that there was no use going after Corpse Flower Mask without backup. She returned to her base of operations.

* * *

The girl who was also known as Kuroninja, now untransformed, walked through the streets until she reached her destination: a small cafe known as Café d'Orange, which only had about 10 customers every afternoon. The head cook of the cafe wanted to work at a famous restaurant, but he knew that he was no match for that restaurant's current team of chefs, including one named Touma Yoimachi. Although the cafe didn't get that much customers in the afternoon, there were some who came by regularly. One of them was Shiho Ichinose, a manga artist who wrote down her stories at the cafe. Her most recent work was going to be about a masked ninja in orange who fought against a large crime syndicate hidden throughout the city. The girl went over to join Shiho's table.

"You came back faster than I expected, Umika," Shiho said.

"Are you still working on that story?" Umika asked.

"Yes, I am," Shiho said. "I don't know where the story should go, though. Maybe you could help with me find some inspiration or something?"

"I don't think it's a good idea to make a story about what we're doing," Umika said. "Besides, our hideout is right below this cafe, and the last thing that me or Kuroninja wants is to get caught by the Patrangers."

"Don't worry," Shiho said. "The Patrangers are more focused on chasing a phantom thief known as "Mr. X." I have no idea if "Mr. X" even exists, though."

"Wait a minute," Umika said, "I think the Patrangers are here."

Three police officers walked in the cafe, in color-coded uniforms. These three were part of a team known as Keisatsu Sentai Patranger, and they were also regulars at the Café d'Orange. The leader, Keiichiro, wore a uniform with red accents because he was the red ranger, and there was also Sakuya, the green ranger, and Tsukasa, the pink ranger. Umika usually eavesdropped on their conversations in case they had any information on The Diamond's activity.

"Today's mission was really boring!" Sakuya said.

"Yeah," Tsukasa said. "I was prepared to stop a weapons deal and arrest the criminals, but most of them had already been taken care of by someone else!"

"This must be the work of the phantom thief Mr. X!" Keiichiro said. "He probably stole the weapons for himself."

"But what would Mr. X want advanced weapons for?" Tsukasa said.

"I don't know," Keiichiro said. "Let's just think about this later. This Mr. X guy is really hard to find."

The three Patrangers left the cafe after finishing their meal. Soon, the cafe was closed and the only ones inside were Umika and Shiho.

"Is no one here?" Shiho asked.

"No one's here," Umika said.

"Then it's time," Shiho said. She and Umika went to a table with a vase on it. Inside the vase were some yellow and orange flowers. Umika tilted the vase but didn't remove it from the table. She put the vase back where it was before, and the table and the chairs descended from the cafe into an underground base. Umika and Shiho left their seats and made their way to the only door in front of them. Inside was a lounge area and a room with a large table. There was also a giant tv screen on the wall near the large table. Sat at the table was another Kuroninja.

"Welcome back, Umika and Shiho," Kuroninja said. "What happened this time?"

"I stopped a weapons deal between the Diamond and another criminal gang," Umika said.

Kuroninja sighed. "The mission was to spy on them and confirm that the Diamond is giving out weapons with advanced technology. Now that they know about us, they're probably going to take us more seriously."

"Mr. X already gave us these modified weapons from the Lupin Collection," Umika said. "It's not like The Diamond has access to more powerful weapons or anything."

* * *

One of the tallest buildings in the city was the Scorpio Tower, owned by Director Scorpio. What nobody knew about Director Scorpio was that he was secretly backing The Diamond's criminal activities, such as supplying them with the masks used to make Masked Monsters. Scorpio was a collector who sold most of the artifacts he found to museums and art galleries to make money, but if any of the artifacts had magic powers or anything similar, he would keep them for himself. One of the artifacts he found was a colorless energy crystal that just appeared one day. Scorpio was admiring that crystal when suddenly, he got a call from someone. Scorpio covered all the windows and turned the tv on.

On the screen of the tv was Cyrus, the leader of The Diamond.

"Mr. Cyrus, my most loyal customer," Director Scorpio said. "What do you need this time?"

"Corpse Flower Mask was in the middle of a deal with one of the lesser gangs in the area," Cyrus explained, "but then the Kuroninja appeared and ruined the deal! I must make sure this doesn't happen again."

"I don't have anything to help you, though..." Director Scorpio said.

"You should think about what you say," Cyrus said back. "Soon, this city, and eventually the world, will be taken over by criminals. Once that happens, The Diamond will choose who gets to be safe, and I'm sure you want to be one of those people."

"Ok, fine," Scorpio said. "I have this crystal that I just got, but I don't know what it does. I think it enhances power."

"Bring it to me," Cyrus said. "I will use it to boost the power of Corpse Flower Mask."

* * *

The next day, Umika was on her way to the cafe to meet up with Kuroninja, but there was a roadblock. Some criminals had taken people hostage, and they had rifles that fired green lasers. The police were having a hard time dealing with these criminals because of those deadly weapons they were using. Umika messaged Kuroninja, but then a criminal spotted her.

"Hey!" the criminal said. "Where do you think _you're_ going? This place belongs to us now!"

A police car appeared, but it was different from the others because it was a GSPO car. Three police officers appeared and Umika recognized them easily. They were Keiichiro, Sakuya, and Tsukasa. They pulled out their VS Changers and transformed into rangers. Patren 1gou, Patren 2gou, and Patren 3gou had arrived.

"As much as I want to focus on catching Mr X, saving these people is more important!" Patren 1gou said. The Patrangers were able to get into the enemy territory and rescue anyone captured by the criminals. However, as they were focused on saving hostages, a figure in black, yellow, and orange was looking down from the roof of a building. He climbed down to a lower level and jumped down to confront the criminals with advanced weaponry. Everyone was confused on who this guy was except Umika. It was Kuroninja. Even though Umika wanted to join Kuroninja in battle, she couldn't, or else everyone would see her transform and realize that she was also Kuroninja.

The criminals all focused on Kuroninja, which gave the Patrangers more time to free hostages. Patren 2gou rescued the group that Umika was put in when she got captured. As soon as Umika was freed, she looked for a spot where nobody was and transformed into Kuroninja. She emerged from her hiding place and began shooting at the criminals. Kuroninja was shocked to see her.

"What are you doing here?" Kuroninja asked.

"I wanted to help you with these criminals!" Umika said.

"Ok," Kuroninja said, "but don't shoot at them. I don't want the Patrangers to think we're the bad guys."

Kuroninja took down one of the criminals and brought him over to a wall.

"Alright," Kuroninja said, "we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Where did you get these weapons from?"

"I'm not telling you anything!" the criminal said.

"You don't have to," Kuroninja said. "I'll just let your mind speak for you." Kuroninja got out a gear-shaped Shuriken and placed it on the criminal's head. After a few seconds, Kuroninja took it off.

"Thank you for your cooperation," Kuroninja said.

Meanwhile, things had quieted down. The Patrangers had arrested all the criminals and took their weapons. Umika's job was done, so she went to the nearest dark alley to untransform, only to find Kuroninja interrogating one of the criminals. Kuroninja let him go, and he ran away.

"Good news," Kuroninja said to Umika. "I know where the Diamond is giving people weapons."

* * *

Kuroninja and Umika traveled to a warehouse nearby. The outside was protected by two masked guards. Both Kuroninja and Umika knew that these were the Diamond's foot soldiers. Kuroninja and Umika were about to sneak in, but then some more masked soldiers attacked Kuroninja and Umika from behind and brought them inside.

The masked soldiers removed the bags covering Kuroninja and Umika's face, and now they could see Corpse Flower Mask. However, something was different. Corpse Flower Mask was holding a crystal that was small enough to hold, but large enough for anyone near him to see it. Standing next to Corpse Flower Mask was a woman who was recording the scene. This was Ayu Kuroda, Cyrus' secretary who was also a member of the Diamond. Kuroda wasn't following orders from Corpse Flower Mask, she was sent by Cyrus to observe what was happening.

"So, you thought you could just ruin or operation, huh?" Corpse Flower Mask said. "Well guess what? We run this city from the shadows. Even if you defeat me, you won't be able to take out the rest."

"You have no idea how many of you guys we've fought already," Umika said.

"Yeah," Kuroninja said. "We've been doing this for years."

"Then I guess it will end here," Corpse Flower Mask said. He pointed his arm at Kuroninja and Umika to spray poisonous gas at them. Kuroninja threw a smoke bomb that blocked the gas from reaching them. As soon as the smoke cleared up, Kuroninja and Umika had broken free from the ropes. While Umika was fighting the masked soldiers, Kuroninja was attacking Corpse Flower Mask with his ninja skills. Kuroda observed everything from a safe distance.

Corpse Flower Mask was easy for Kuroninja to defeat, since Kuroninja had taken down many of the Diamond's masked monsters. This one was going to be no different for him. As for Umika, she had less experience, since she had only become Kuroninja's apprentice about two years ago. Kuroninja knocked Corpse Flower Mask into a wall. Suddenly, Corpse Flower Mask pulled out the colorless crystal that Kuroda had given him based on her orders from Cyrus.

"Now's a good time to test out this artifact that the boss gave me!" Corpse Flower Mask said. He gripped the crystal tightly and pointed it toward Kuroninja.

Nothing happened.

Ayu Kuroda sighed after seeing the results. "That crystal you gave Corpse Flower Mask is useless," she thought.

Kuroninja was confused, but he recovered and kicked the crystal out of Corpse Flower Mask's hands. The crystal flew into Umika's hands. At this time, Umika was fighting so many masked soldiers, who were surrounding him after realizing that Umika could only fight two or less masked soldiers at a time. Without thinking, Umika grabbed the crystal as it fell into her hands and pushed a masked soldier back. A shockwave pulsed from Umika's position and pushed back all the masked soldiers surrounding her. A fiery, orange aura surrounded Umika.

"Interesting..." Kuroda said as she saw everything unfold.

Umika was a little shocked after seeing her hands burn orange, which made her drop the crystal. One of the masked soldiers that survived used this opportunity to pick the crystal up and run away with it. As for Corpse Flower Mask, he was locked in position for the Kuroninja Ball.

"Umika!" Kuroninja said. "Over here!"

"Got it!" Umika said. She snapped out of it and ran over to Kuroninja's position, because she knew that Kuroninja was going for the Kuroninja Ball. Kuroninja used his ninja energy to summon a yellow volleyball, which he threw at Umika as she ran towards him. Umika ran past Kuroninja and deflected the ball back at Kuroninja. Kuroninja spiked the ball right into Corpse Flower Mask. The ball of energy flew into Corpse Flower Mask and went right through him. Corpse Flower Mask collapsed and exploded.

"My work here is done," Kuroda said. The masked foot soldier who took the crystal joined her, and the two of them left for the Scorpio Tower.

* * *

In the Scorpio Tower, Director Scorpio was waiting with Cyrus. He had just given Cyrus a new mask, which was shaped like a tank. The elevator opened, and out came Ayu Kuroda and a masked soldier with the crystal from earlier.

"You're back, Kuroda," Cyrus said. "What have you found out about the crystal so far?"

"It didn't work on the masked monster," Kuroda said. "At first I thought the crystal wouldn't do anything, until Kuroninja's apprentice used it. She killed most of our soldiers."

"How is that possible?" Cyrus asked. "I thought that Kuroninja's apprentice was the weak link of the two. How could she kill most of my soldiers?"

"It could've been the crystal," Kuroda suggested.

Director Scorpio noticed what Cyrus' secretary was saying. "Hold on, you said that Kuroninja's _apprentice_ used the crystal, right?"

"Yeah..." Kuroda said.

"What colour was the light?" Director Scorpio asked.

"It was orange," Kuroda said, "but what's so special about the colour?"

"I did some more research, and I think I know what this crystal is. I might need it for a moment," Director Scorpio said. He took the crystal and went down the elevator. Cyrus walked over to the masked soldier who brought the crystal, and put the tank-shaped mask over his face.

"I shall thank you for your services to the Diamond," Cyrus said. "From now on, masked soldier, you will be known as Tank Mask."

"I will destroy anyone who interferes with the Diamond's plans!" Tank Mask said.

* * *

Back in the Café d'Orange, Shiho Ichinose was waiting for Kuroninja and Umika to return. When they did, she stopped sketching and went to greet them.

"You're back!" Shiho said. "How was it?"

"We defeated the masked monster and stopped the operation," Kuroninja said.

"There was also this crystal," Umika said, "and my hands were on fire when I was holding it."

Kuroninja stopped suddenly and turned over to Umika.

"Wait a minute," Kuroninja said. "You touched a crystal and your hands were on fire? Did it hurt?"

"Now that I think about it, I didn't feel anything," Umika said.

"What's going on?" Shiho asked.

"What colour was the fire?" Kuroninja asked Umika.

"I think it was orange or something," Umika said.

Kuroninja sighed. "I knew this day would come," he said.

"What do you mean?" Umika asked.

"You already know how we met, and how I formed this team," Kuroninja said, "but I never told you why I trained you, Umika, but not Shiho."

* * *

Two years ago, Shiho Ichinose was participating in a manga contest, and she won. Her best friend, Umika, decided to treat her for a dessert to congratulate her on winning the contest. However, while they were leaving the dessert place, the district was under attack by a group of criminals led by the masked monster, Glacier Mask. Glacier Mask was attacking people with his freeze ray and encapsulating them in walls of ice. He noticed Umika and fired his freeze ray at her. Shiho noticed in time and pushed Umika aside. The freeze ray was about to hit, and Shiho was about to get frozen in ice. Shiho closed her eyes and prepared for the freeze ray to hit...

...a few seconds later, she opened her eyes and saw a ninja in black, orange, and yellow, who was blocking the freeze ray with his sword. The ninja rushed at Glacier Mask and cut through him. Glacier Mask collapsed to the ground and died, and the ice walls containing his victims thawed out, allowing them to escape. Everyone who was frozen before didn't pay any attention to the ninja who saved them. Instead, they were running away, now that they were unfrozen. As for Shiho Ichinose and Umika Hayami, they got to witness the ninja who saved everyone.

"You saved us!" Shiho said.

"What's your name?" Umika said.

"I can't tell you that," the ninja said, "but you can call me "Kuroninja."

Kuroninja disappeared into the night, but he dropped something. What he dropped was a black shuriken with orange accents. Umika picked it up and went to return the shuriken, but as she looked up, Kuroninja was already gone.

Umika and Shiho decided to look for Kuroninja, and their investigations led them to the Cafe d'Orange. That was where Kuroninja found them. He thanked Umika and Shiho for giving back his shuriken, but then he sensed some kind of power coming from within Umika. Kuroninja offered to make Umika his apprentice, so that the two of them could team up and fight against more masked monsters like Glacier Mask.

* * *

As all three of them were remembering how they formed their team, Umika was still wondering about her power.

"Even I don't know where that power comes from," Kuroninja said, "but I don't think you're the only one who has it. I'm a member of the Council of Kuroninjas, a group of Kuroninjas whose mission is to keep balance in the Multiverse. When you described orange fire appearing in your hands, Umika, it reminded me of the Kuroninja of Earth 1. He has this power that involves some kind of laser sword, but I forgot what he called it."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Scorpio Tower, Director Scorpio had returned with some kind of gun, a small lime green helicopter, and a wristband with the crystal on it.

"Ok," Director Scorpio said, "this device I've created only works for certain people."

"It doesn't matter," Cyrus said, "what matters is that it can stop Kuroninja and his apprentice from ruining our plans!" He grabbed the equipment and gave it to a masked soldier. The masked soldier put the wristband on.

"So what does it do?" Cyrus asked.

"First," Director Scorpio said, "you put the Cyclone Dial Fighter on the VS Changer. The green thing that looks like a helicopter."

The masked soldier put the Cyclone Dial Fighter on the VS Changer, but nothing happened.

"It doesn't work," Cyrus said.

"That's because only certain people are able to use the stuff I gave you," Director Scorpio said.

"Let me try," Ayu Kuroda said. She grabbed the wristband, and suddenly, the crystal turned emerald green.

"It's working," Director Scorpio said.

Kuroda held the Cyclone Dial Fighter and put it on the VS Changer. She also activated the code.

**"Cyclone! 3-1-6! Kaitou Boost!"**

"Breakdown!" Kuroda announced. She fired the VS Changer, which released a gust of wind. The wind got pulled towards Kuroda, so it ended up surrounding her. The wristband began to release emerald green lightning that also surrounded Kuroda. Kuroda was engulfed in a tornado of wind and lightning. The wind and lightning cleared up to reveal an emerald green battle armour that Kuroda was suddenly wearing.

"This looks cool," Kuroda said. "What is this armour?"

"I call it the _Mera L-Greedon (メラエルグリードン）_ Armour," Director Scorpio said. "This will give you enough strength to take on Kuroninja and his apprentice."

* * *

Back at Café d'Orange, the tv showed a news report of a guy with a head shaped like a tank destroying buildings and police cars. Kuroninja, Umika, and Shiho saw the news report on the tv and knew what to do.

"We must go," Kuroninja said. "That sounds like one of the Diamond's masked monsters."

"Got it," Umika said.

Kuroninja and Umika left to fight the Diamond's latest masked monster.

"Come back safely," Shiho said, as they left the cafe.

* * *

Kuroninja and Umika, who was now transformed into the other Kuroninja, arrived on the scene. Tank Mask was there to greet them.

"Kuroninja...I was expecting you two!" Tank Mask said. "Take this!"

Tank Mask fired explosive shells from the cannon on his mask. Kuroninja and Umika both dodged the shells, but it separated both of them. Kuroninja charged at Tank Mask and the two of them engaged in a duel. As for Umika, she had to face several masked soldiers. Umika took down the masked soldiers with ease. That was when she heard a voice.

"So this is Kuroninja's apprentice..." the voice said. Umika turned around and saw Ayu Kuroda.

"Who are you?" Umika asked.

"My name is Ayu Kuroda, the secretary of the Diamond's leader," Ayu said, introducing herself. "I have arrived to test your strength!" She showed Umika the Cyclone Dial Fighter and transformed. The Mera L-Greedon armour formed around her.

Umika was shocked upon seeing Kuroda's transformation sequence. "You can transform too?"

"That's right," Kuroda said. "This is the Mera L-Greedon battle armour, created with the help of the Diamond's benefactor. Now come at me!"

Umika and Kuroda charged at each other. As the two of them fought, Kuroninja focuses his attention on Tank Mask. Tank Mask fired some explosive shells at Kuroninja from his face, which Kuroninja barely dodged. Kuroninja realized that he had to stop Tank Mask from shooting explosives at him in order to fight him close-up. He threw a shuriken at Tank Mask's face. It jammed Tank Mask's cannon, which allowed Kuroninja to go up close and slice the cannon off of Tank Mask.

At this time, Kuroda was getting the upper hand on Umika. She kicked Umika and sent her flying into Kuroninja. Tank Mask used this to his advantage. He transformed his arms into sharp conveyor belts, which he used on Kuroninja and Umika. As the conveyor tracks from Tank Mask's arms dragged across, it dealt some damage to Kuroninja and Umika.

"You made a big mistake challenging us, Kuroninja," Tank Mask said. "I'm going to destroy you right here, but first, I'll destroy your sidekick!" Tank Mask pulled out a combat knife and charged at Umika.

Suddenly, Kuroda ran in front of Tank Mask and punched him in the face, knocking him back.

"What's wrong with you?" Tank Mask said to Kuroda.

"I don't care what you do to Kuroninja," Kuroda said, "but until I get to see his apprentice's hidden power, you will never go near her!" She went over to Umika and picked her up. Umika started running from Kuroda, because she knew that she wasn't powerful enough to take on Mera L-Greedon.

Suddenly, Umika was trapped in a corner. Kuroda began charging up energy from the Mera L-Greedon battle armour and sent it towards Umika. Not knowing what to do, Umika went into a protective position as a last resort against this charged wind attack. She suddenly released a pulse of orange light, which pushed Kuroda backward and canceled her attack. Umika kicked Kuroda in the face and sent her flying into Tank Mask. Tank Mask was now prone.

"Kuroninja!" Umika said. "Now's your chance to use the Kuroninja Ball!"

Kuroninja noticed Tank Mask's position and summoned the Kuroninja Ball. He threw it at Umika, who volleyed it back to Kuroninja. Kuroninja jumped into the air and spiked the ball, which hit Tank Mask and destroyed the masked monster in an explosion. Kuroninja and Umika high-fived and left the area.

Kuroda, who had survived, took the helmet of the Mera L-Greedon armour off and smiled.

"So that is your hidden power..." she thought. "I'm looking forward to the many duels we will have in the future...don't you agree, Umika? After all, you may have been transformed, but I knew it was you when we fought."

Despite the fact that she was on the losing side of this fight, Ayu Kuroda was satisfied with the results of the fight. She walked off into the sunset, on her way back to the Diamond's main base of operations.

* * *

The next day, at Café d'Orange, Umika Hayami and Shiho Ichinose were at the same table they usually occupied. Umika was more tired than usual.

"Are you alright, Umika?" Shiho asked.

"I'm fine," Umika said, "it's just that...there was this strange power I felt when me and Kuroninja fought against the Diamond yesterday."

"I think I've got some inspiration for my next manga!" Shiho said. "Sorry, but I've got to go before I forget about what you told me."

"Ok, see you later," Umika said.

Before Shiho left the table, Umika remembered something from the fight. The name of the one who fought her.

"Wait!" Umika said. "Before you go, I just remembered something."

"What is it?" Shiho asked.

"Does the name "Ayu Kuroda" sound familiar to you?"

"Not really," Shiho said. "Why is that?"

"Nothing," Umika said, "I just remembered someone with that name."

* * *

Meanwhile, on the rooftop of the café, Kuroninja had met up with a masked man in a silver formal suit and top hat.

"Mr. X, my mentor and benefactor," Kuroninja said. "Shouldn't you be in hiding? The Patorangers are looking for you."

"I don't have to worry about the Patorangers, they'll never catch me," Mr. X said. "If only they knew who gave them their equipment."

"Anyway, what brings you here?" Kuroninja asked.

"Just checking up on my protege," Mr. X said. "I've been trying to restore the Lupin Collection ever since the Diamond found out how to travel to the Back World, and since you took out 2 masked monsters, were they using any Collection pieces?"

"Not really," Kuroninja said, "but my own protege learned about this power I sensed from her, and something has been on my mind for a very long time."

"What is it?" Mr. X said.

"Does Umika's power have anything to do with the Lupin Collection?" Kuroninja asked Mr. X.

" _Non_ ," Mr. X said. "I don't know where that power comes from."

"Ok, well it was nice to meet you again," Kuroninja said. "I'll give you any Lupin Collection pieces I find...ok, maybe I'll keep some of them."

"Au revoir," Mr. X said. He did a front flip onto the roof of the next building and disappeared.

Kuroninja was about to leave, but then a portal opened in front of him.

"Not again," Kuroninja said.

**Author's Note:**

> "Mera L-Greedon" (メラエルグリードン) is an anagram of "emerald green" (エメラルドグリーン) in Japanese.  
> The inspiration for Ayu Kuroda was the 10th generation Morning Musume member associated with Anti-Kuroninja, the archenemy of the Earth 1 Kuroninja.


End file.
